Sarnia-Lambton residents will get a good view of this afternoon's solar eclipse.
Starting around 1pm, the moon will be covering about three-quarters of the sun in our region. It will be fully covered in parts of the US, ranging from Oregon to South Carolina.
Canadian Space Agency Senior Program Scientist Denis Laurin says it will last about 90 minutes.
He says solar eclipses happen more often than people think.
"In theory, it could happen every six months," says Laurin. "They do happen about every six months or so. To get a little more technical, this is when the plane of the moon's orbit around the earth lines up with the line of sight of the sun. The problem is that it's not always a total eclipse, and the bigger problem is that it does not always occur in places where there are a lot of people. It could be over the pacific or atlantic. The next eclipse will be in February over Antarctica so not a lot of people will see it."
Viewing the eclipse requires special sunglasses or the use of a pinhole projector.
Staring directly at it for any length of time can cause permanent eye damage.
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